UPDATE: Darrien Hunt

No matter what the 911 caller said, the most relevant issue is that Darrien was shot in the back by the police. The police are trying to distract from that by relying on the so-called credibility of the 911 caller.

UPDATE: 10-4-14 The audio recording of the 911 call that lead to the killing of a 22-year-old Utah man may contradict what cops initially said about the incident.

The Guardian reports that Saratoga Springs Police previously said they were called to a strip mall to investigate a “suspicious individual” carrying a sword. But the 911 call (which can be heard above) mentions nothing about Hunt being suspicious.

The caller said Hunt was “just walking” around the strip mall. The Guardian notes that, under Utah laws, Hunt would be legally allowed to carry a sword, even if it were real. The sword was a replica, according to Hunt’s family.

Police have said Hunt was killed after he “lunged” at officers after a confrontation outside a bank. But witnesses said Hunt was running away as shots were fired and the Hunt’s family lawyer said an independent autopsy showed the 22-year-old African-American was…

mindyme62, Body & dash cameras are a good step in the right direction. However the use of them is only going to be as reliable as the “honor and integrity” of the agency using them. Until there is a universal system in place to prevent the “non use” in selective events, and force all interaction with the public to be recorded and “stored” in an environment that is tamper free, the problem will continue to exist, but only in a reduced capacity.. It would seem that “common sense” now has a new cousin, that being “honor”, neither one at this point seems to be in use by a large portion of our society!

Mothman, I’m on the same page as you. There was video surveillance of Deputy Sheriff Pobjecky shooting unarmed Michael Sago Jr. in the back, while Michael was on the floor face down. We read it here on this blog where a person purporting to be on the jury put the video aside and said she considered that Pobjecky had only a few seconds to access the situation.

My question is, aren’t members of LE trained in making proper assessments before using deadly force? They should be held to a higher standard. Maybe training should be kept to the K.I.S.S. method such as, “never fire your weapon when the situation is one of shooting fish in a barrel.” The fish in the barrel situations include when the person’s back is to you; when the person is running away from you and not returning fire; when the person is handcuffed; when the person has their hands up; when the person has a toy gun in a store filled with staff and customers and management does not evacuate the store and call 911.

Xena, IMO, it is not so much that they lack training, it is motivation that they seem to be lacking. The use of a fire arm should be only as a last resort and then only when the officer or a victim faces possible death. It would seem the way it is done now is shoot first, because a dead man tells no tales… If society decides that body cams are the solution, then they need to be on at all times… The officer that was shot in Ferguson several weeks ago was wearing one, but guess what, it was turned off! If the individual officer has the ability to turn it off then it defeats the purpose of wearing one. They need to be totally tamper proof and the law needs to be written that to disable the body cam results in not only immediate termination but a felony charge of tampering with evidence as well. Only with the proper motivation will the police agencies use them as they are intended…

Hey Xena….another one they use now is having their own posse stand around the actual victim while one of two of them pound on the actual victim so no one can see or video unobstructed while cop 1 and / or cop 2 are screaming “…stop resisting……stop resisting”
When or if they get called on it the video if one exists is used to “prove” the actual victim was assaulting / resisting.

The worst is when they are in court and those Moron O’ Mara defense lawyers ask repeatedly what the cop was saying and of course the witness says “…..stop resisting…
…stop resisting” followed by “No more questions”

Racer,
Correct, which is why when I compiled the following video, I turned off the audio in the majority of the clips so that viewers see only actions.

I don’t understand the gang-like attack on people by cops, particularly when they are already on the ground. As well, the placing of the knee on a person’s neck, pushing their face and head into the ground and holding it there, and the choke holds, places them in a position to resist by nature — those actions clearly convey that they are being killed — not merely restrained.

Suspects are not being restrained. They are being punished; punished for what they say, punished for their race, punished for their gender, punished for being homeless, punished for being mentally ill — brutalized and murdered under color and claim of official right.